The new medicine interns come in at 5am sharp (about an hour and a half before they really need to), with starched and ironed, never-before-worn LONG white coats. The ICU nurses are watching them. We can smell fear. The corners of our lips our turned up in a slight, patronizing smile before they even open their mouth. We are prepared to teach, but we can't really keep a straight face. We're braced for the worst. They are fresh, eager, faces rigid with the effort of keeping up, let alone staying a step ahead. We are waiting for them to declare themselves to be either one of two things: 1) total moron. 2) pretty good for your first month!
Meanwhile, orders are written in strange ways. Seniors look haggard, their eyes bloodshot. Following an update from the "doctor", family members are often left standing with big WTF??s written on their faces, as the nurse breezes in to translate (or correct, or explain 'differently'). Everything will be OK. The nurses will take care of you. We've got this. We'll get through a month of snarky comments, eye-rolling, and patience-trying teaching moments... and hopefully our new interns will leave our unit primed and ready to take on the world.
I love July.
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